SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- The girlfriend of a California millionaire shot to death in 1994 by ex-NFL player Eric Naposki is about to be tried as his accomplice, prosecutors say.
The Orange County Register reported Tuesday jury selection is to begin this week for what is expected to be a 10-day trial for Nanette Johnston, charged as an accomplice in the slaying of William McLaughlin, who made a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry.
Prosecutors contend Naposki, a linebacker who had played for New England and Indianapolis in 1988 and 1989, was having an affair with Johnston behind McLaughlin's back.
Naposki, now 45, was convicted by an Orange County jury in July of first-degree murder plus the special circumstances of murder for financial gain. He faces sentencing Jan. 20.
Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy contends it was Johnston who put Naposki up to the killing to collect $1 million in life insurance and be allowed to live for a year in a beach house McLaughlin owned.
Authorities said McLaughlin had answered an ad in a dating magazine placed by Johnston in 1991. Directed at "Wealthy Men Only," the ad read "Classy, well-educated woman ... knows how to take care of her man ... you take care of me and I'll take care of you."
McLaughlin, 50 at the time, began dating Johnston, who was 25. She soon moved into his expensive home in a gated Newport Beach community.
On Dec. 15, 1994, someone got inside McLaughlin's home with a key while Johnston was out shopping, and shot and killed him with a 9mm handgun.
No arrests were made in 1994, though detectives suspected at the time Johnston and Naposki were involved, the Register said.
